Like the Bush supporter who screamed at Kerry/Edwards supporters after a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., just before the 2004 election, el presidente Arbusto has exhausted his supply of platitudes and generalities. Now he's rehashing the hash.

Dear Harry,
I am beginning to think the true horror of the fateful February day was not that you were shot by Vice President dick Cheney but that you had to listen to him for hours on end.

I am more glad everyday that they won't allow me to attend their 'rallies'. I don't have the right social security number.

Here's an example of Vice President dick Cheney's bull.
Cheney on Feingold

Cheney said Monday, ``The outrageous proposition that we ought to protect our enemies' ability to communicate as it plots against America poses a key test of our Democratic leaders.''

``The American people already made their decision,'' Cheney added. ``They agree with the president.''

It's enough to make you sneer. Maybe that's why he's always sneering. He has to read that crap.

Rally. What a joke. He gets to get up in front of (an ever dwindling) audience and basks in their adoration of him. It's really gross.
"Oh Mr. President...Laura...I mean First Lady Bush.."
"No no, call her Laura."
"I just wanted to say, you and Laura are great role models. Your morals are so high."
"Well, thank you."
--------------------
"You're working aren't you?"
"Why yes, Mr. President. I have three jobs."
"Will you listen to that. And people are saying the economy is bad. This lady has three jobs."

And Mr. President, you're a freaking idiot. She has three jobs because she can't live on one.

Chimpy, all yack and no action. Is that a terrorist in his pocket or is just glad cause jeffy is there.

It's not the heat, it's the timidity

By Jesse Jackson

Americans are calling for a new direction in large numbers. They are looking for bold leadership -- and bold new policies to deal with the challenges we face. Support for President Bush is near its lowest levels. Support for the Republican Congress is declining below even the Republican base level. Yet there is no lift in this for Democrats -- and that's no surprise. Faced with the epic catastrophe wrought by this administration and this Congress' policies, Democrats have yet to lay out any compelling alternative.

Pre-emptive war in Iraq has isolated us from our friends, provided a recruiting boon for our enemies, drained our military and weakened our country. Our casualties are mounting in what is turning into a civil war. And the Congress is about to waste another $70 billion on a war that Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates will cost us more than $1 trillion.

Bush's tax cuts racked up record deficits and contributed to unparalleled inequality but failed to generate jobs. Take away the increase in public-sector jobs and the jobs generated by the military buildup, and the United States has lost net jobs over the course of Bush's administration. The bulk of the lost jobs are better-paying manufacturing jobs. That's why even with the economy growing, workers' wages are still not keeping up with their expenses, while corporations roll back benefits on pensions and health care.

Bush's trade and corporate policies have racked up trade deficits beyond any recorded in the annals of time. He is essentially mortgaging America to foreign creditors -- largely Chinese and Japanese central bankers. Our children will have to work part of their days to pay back foreign creditors.

Bush's abject failures in homeland security were laid bare in the suffering of Katrina's survivors. They are also apparent in the failure of port security, the failure to review defense plans for dangerous chemical plants, a sellout to the chemical industry, and the ladling out of resources without targeting them on priority needs. (Here the corrupted Congress is far more at fault than the administration.)

The president's politics of division have put government in our bedrooms and at our death beds, weakened the protections of the Voting Rights Act, turned the government against affirmative action, emboldened the opponents of women's rights, and fostered fear about gays and lesbians. He has used the war on terror as a partisan club.

None of this is news. But Democrats have, as of yet, been too timid or too divided to do much about it. With America in desperate need of bold leadership and a new direction, their slogan for the 2006 election is, hilariously, "We can do better." Even after conservative Rep. Jack Murtha, the Pentagon's favorite ex-Marine, spoke up, they dance around raindrops on Iraq. They seem unable to offer a coherent alternative to the president's ruinous tax-cut policies. They say nothing collectively about the hole that we're in from the catastrophic trade polices. Even on Katrina, they have failed to provide a clear alternative.

They have railed against the "culture of corruption" but failed to put out a comprehensive reform agenda, blocked by their own money-driven incumbents. They have railed against the big-oil policies of the administration but failed to embrace the Apollo Alliance for generating good jobs by investing in new energy and energy efficiency. They accuse the president of playing on the politics of race, of gender, of sexual preference -- but they have failed to put the assault on basic rights at the center of their campaigns.

Some of this is the fate of a party that is completely locked out of power. With the right wing in control of every branch of government, Democrats are naturally easily divided -- and should be having a big debate about what they believe and where they want to take the country.

But a lot of this is simple cowardice -- the belief that Bush and the Republican Congress have fallen so low and failed so completely, that Democrats can inherit power without ever committing to anything. That is bad politics and bad policy. Democrats who want to run for president are about to learn from core supporters that dancing between raindrops on issues of vital national importance won't get them there.
------------------------
AMEN

Bush is responsible for more American deaths than I am.

This is the latest e-mail from friend Peggy Gish who is with the Christian Peace Maker Team in Iraq. These folks who have such strong faith are simply amazing.

13 March, 2006
Tom, we will greatly miss you.
By Peggy Gish

If I understand the message of God, we are here to take part in the creation of the peaceable Realm of God?.And that is to love God with all our heart, our mind and our strength and to love our neighbors and enemies as we love God and ourselves. Allan read during our memorial service for Tom at a local church in Baghdad, This was taken from a ?reflection Tom Fox had written days before he was kidnapped. At the front of the church was a large picture of Tom, a bouquet of fresh flowers and lit candles.

Tom was very clear that if any harm came to him he did not want anyone to act out of revenge or ill will. He calls us to follow Jesus? example of loving and praying for those labeled enemy,? I said as part of the beginning tribute to Tom. When it came to the part about Tom?s death and captivity for over 100 days, the words were harder to get out.

It was rewarding to see, in the congregation, the caring faces of so many Iraqis that had loved Tom. There were members of that church, some Christian neighbors, as well as Muslim friends and colleagues.

The congregation sang a version of the song, ?Be Thou My Vision, that Tom had liked.
Maxine read excerpts from another of Tom?s writing. He spoke of his struggle to not let rage take over, become numb, or turn away from the pain he encountered, but to learn compassion while staying with that pain.

The news on Friday of Tom?s death hit us hard. We especially grieved for Tom?s family. Iraqis began coming to visit us, since we had a death in our family.

The following day, we had to decide whether to go ahead with or cancel two meetings scheduled at our apartment. One was to link leaders from the Muslim Peacemakers Taskforce (MPT) in Najaf with a Sunni human rights organization in Baghdad. They were forming a coalition between Shia, Sunni, Christian, and Kurdish organizations to work to prevent sectarian violence. The second was to link MPTers with Palestinian Iraqis whose lives are under daily threat and are asking for accompaniment to travel to one of Iraq's borders. While emotionally it was very hard for us to host these meetings, it seemed important to do so.

Throughout the past three days, the outpouring of love from Iraqi and international friends and colleagues through their visits, phone calls and e-mail messages, has touched us. We continue to celebrate Tom's life as we remember his words and his work to end all forms of violence. It does not take away the sorrow, but it helps remind us why we are here and why Tom kept returning to Iraq and was willing to give up his life.

Our memorial service tribute to Tom ended with the words we heard expressed by so many Iraqis in the past three days: Tom, we will greatly miss you!

Saladin do you listen to NPr or the BBc? I usually assume that NPr will blame anything that happens in the Israeli/Palestinian on the Palestinians. This certainly happened again tonight when Npr and the Bush administration turned the illegal Israeli raid of the prison in Jericho around and blamed it on the Palestinians who they claimed had not answered concerns about the safety of monitors. How absurd.

There was absolutely no condemnation by the Bush administration of Israel's illegal and immoral acts. Two more Palestinians were murdered by the Israeli military, and their was barely a mention of their lives.

But I was shocked today when both Clair Baldeson (this morning) and Judy Swallow (this evening) on the BBC, both attempted to turn this unlawful act by the Israeli army which is completely in breach of Iinternational law around on the Palestinians,

They both let the Israeli representative get away with saying that the Israeli's were forced to act because the Palestinians had "indicated" that they were going to release the prisoner that had not been charged, tried or convicted.

MORE OF THIS PRE-EMPTION HOGWASH..MORE OF THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT "DO WHAT WE WANT WE ARE ABOVE THE LAW".....CRAP

Kathleen, The Israelis have been getting away with murder for years, yet the US finds it necessary to donate billions to their cause annually. But do not question that or your automaticly anti-semetic. There is a good chance Mossad had a hand in the destruction of the WTC, and the story becomes clear, nothing or nobody is willing to step in front of the train on that one. The Mossad is up to their eyeballs in terrorist activities. Now introduce atomic weapons into the equation and you have an instant recipe for disaster. No wonder their neighbors are nervous.

Can someone please explain to me why the Democrats refuse to allow a floor vote on Senator Feingold's motion for censure? Are they afraid of debate? Are they afraid of the American swing voter? Are they afraid of their base? What is it?

Kathleen, I read BBC but won't listen to NPR, I despise their BS. Whenever anyone tries to place the middle east clusterf**k on Palestine I write them off from the very beginning. Do you read What Really Happened? Mike Rivero has many interesting articles regarding that conflict, and he knows who's to blame. The Israeli double standard is the most overt on the planet. And they have the ear of our reps, which pisses me off no end!

Fact checker, I posted on the last thread a very plausible explanation, and that is many skeletons in the collective dem closet. Just look at the Milosevic death. clinton was asked to testify, but, we can't have those skeletons dangling out for the world to see, so, miraculously, he dies. How convenient, as the church lady would say!

#6 Osama, Is it true you hate freedom?

Catching up to Happy's nonsense at #43 (previous thread): So, political and social outlook are now hereditary traits? Conservatives have more children, therefore there will be more conservatives in the future? Or maybe you are saying that the children of conservatives will naturally be raised with conservative values and pass those on (nurture as opposed to nature)? I think the cycle of history would prove otherwise. Normally an upcoming generation reacts AGAINST the previous one...note the rise of conservatism in the current generation, as opposed to the more liberal bent of their parents' generation. So...if there are lots and lots of children of conservatives, I would say it is more likely that the future generation will be less, and not more, conservative.

O'Reilly, Osama is dead, he can't hate or love anything, he's just a ghost of a boogeyman.

Here's a thought in regard to getting rid of those long ticket advertisements. David, could your computer gurus devise a filter that will automatically block any post that goes beyond a certain number of lines? Pick a number...10,15,20 lines max. This would also force a certain discipline even on normal posters to link more and avoid long posts. Doable?

Dave,
You have to have a computer guru who can stop these ridiculous posts for tickets and pornography. If you need money, let us know.

Saladin

Please quit talking about me that way, I'm still your brother and I continue to praise you for being such a good foot soldier for the cause!

USA Today Buries the Lead, Botches the Rest

In a wildly misleading front-page story that the Right will love, the Nation's Newspaper kicks off with this eye-catching lead, "A sweeping expansion of social programs since 2000 has sparked a record increase in the number of Americans receiving federal government benefits such as college aid, food stamps, and health care." A sweeping expansion? Has conservatism really been compassionate after all?

Er, nope. But unfortunately, it isn't until the next-to-last paragraph of the story when Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is offered an opportunity to offer a succinct dose of sanity: "The growth in the number of people in many programs is due to a rise in the poverty rate from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 12.7 percent in 2004, the most recent year" for which data is available. So here's a much more accurate lead: "Enrollments in programs like Medicaid and food stamps have mainly gone up significantly because the economy has stunk for Americans at the bottom of the income ladder over the past five years."

...The story concludes by quoting Minnesota Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht, saying that the number of people in "such programs" should not be growing when unemployment is near a record low. "The food stamp program just grows and grows and grows...It's probably time to revisit food stamps." USA Today just gave a nice boost to his bogus cause.
------------------
The Republicans in my state are really mean. Their whole purpose for running is to hurt people they don't find in their class ranking and their church pew.

Bush at 34%

CBS has the results. mcjoan has more...

"President Bush, beginning a series of speeches to shore up support for the war in Iraq, faces a public that believes things are going badly for the U.S. there, is increasingly doubtful of eventual success, and is overwhelmingly convinced that Iraq is now in a civil war. Two-thirds of Americans think the President paints too rosy a picture of events there...read on"

more (link)

------------

As I look int my crystal ball, I see Cheney runing on an "I'll End the Iraq Conflict" platform and then, once in office, not do it. He do that twice; once in '08 and again in '12

Larry Johnson again puts things into perspective.

Smells Like Civil War

Is there a civil war in Iraq? Let's imagine that the events, which happened on Sunday, March 12, 2006 in and around Baghdad, occur tomorrow in and around New York City. The only thing I've changed are the place names. The events are real. Would we put up for a minute with President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld idly dismissing these events as mere sectarian strife?

--03/14/06 AP: A roadside bomb hit a police convoy in White Plains, New York, 35 miles northeast of New York City, killing one patrolman and wounding four others, police said

03/14/06 AP: U.S. forces also clashed with gunmen Sunday afternoon in western New York City, Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.

03/14/06 AP: In Newark, about 20 miles south of New York City, gunmen ambushed and killed a police major as he headed to work, police said.

---03/14/06 Eight bodies were found with their hands tied and gun shot wounds to the head in Brooklyn, a suburb in eastern New York City, police said.

03/1406 Reuters: Gunmen ambushed and killed a local football player (Vinny Testaverde) in Elizabeth City 40 km (25 miles) south of New York City, local police said.

03/14/06 Reuters: At least 40 people were killed and 95 wounded in three apparently coordinated car bombs at two markets in the Jewish section of Brooklyn on Sunday, police said.

If it looks like a civil war, sounds like a civil war, and has casualties like a civil war it is probably a civil war. Now, imagine that these kinds of attacks continue to be the daily routine for the next thirty days (as it has in Baghdad for the last month). How would this effect the lifestyle of the average New Yorker? Do you think George Bush would still enjoy 37% favorable rating?

My point is this, until we understand what is happening in Iraq in terms of what those events would mean if they happened in the United States, we are living with the delusion that Iraq's troubles are caused by grumpy reporters who just want to focus on the negative.

Oh crap O'Reilly, you coulda went all day without sayin that. Now go wash your keyboard with soap.

I'm beginning to think Cheney could run on the platform "I'll make all of your lives as miserable as possible." and the Democrats would be afraid to run against him. I think Sal is right, the skeletons in the closets are being used.
What's amazing is every bad thing that Cheney does is just a minor irritation.

Too bad he wont just falloff the platform never to be see again.

seen

Dick is a bad advertisement for the NRA.

Made me laugh...

The day Al Gore picked that insufferable, sanctimonious gasbag as the Democratic nominee for Vice president was one of the lowest of my life. That speech was the single most disloyal public political act of my lifetime. The Republicans were shrill, shrieking hyenas, foaming at the mouth, circling in for the kill --- and that preening showboater stepped into the well of the senate and used his image as a moral exemplar to try to validate their bullshit partisan witch hunt. It was unforgivable. But he got lots of fawning press coverage from the Republicans and the beltway establishment and it evidently got into his blood. He can't stop doing it.

Props to Digby

SCrUB. sCRUb. ScRuB. I realize now. Some thoughts should be relegated to the darkest recesses of ones mind and never see the light of day. I need to do penance to counteract the bad karma I created by sharing that dark thought... I'll post 50 Glory Be's

FDL Photo Essay (link)

#9 Saladin
#10 Den In regard to Israel getting away with "murder". A professor I had for classes here at Ohio University Gifford Doxsee Professor Emiritus of History who was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and spent time in Dresden Germany where he experienced the fire boming in 1945. This guy is brilliant and still on the planet, a wealth of information.

He said to a group of us that people in Washington do not want to talk about the strong possibility that Israel will be the first to use nuclear weapons in the middle east.

The buildup of Israels stockpiles of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons is fascinating and disturbing. At the IAEA website I read that during the 60's Kennedy was demanding that Dimona be inspected every year...but we know Kennedy had lots of enemies....Israel was not happy with Kennedy when he made this demand.
After Kennedy's assasination Johnson did not enforce Kennedy's demands of Israel, he let the inspection of Dimona fall to the wayside..just where the Israelis want it.

IAEA ( International Atomic Energy Agency)
The issue of the Dimona reactor was among President Kennedy’≥ top issues immediately after he took office on 20 January 1961. On 30 January Secretary of State Dean Rusk submitted to Kennedy a two-page report about Israel’≥ atomic energy activities. The next day Kennedy met departing American Ambassador to Israel, Ogden Reid, primarily to be briefed about the matter of Dimona. Reid told Kennedy that an inspection of the Dimona reactor could be arranged, "if it is done on a secret basis."
Kennedy was determined to make good on Ben Gurion’≥ pledge to the Eisenhower administration for a visit of American scientists to Dimona. Ben Gurion, however, appeared equally determined not to arrange the visit anytime soon. To complicate the problem, Ben Gurion’≥ domestic political crisis--the Lavon Affair—©ntensified. During February-April 1961 a pattern emerged in which the United States would press for a date for the visit, while Israel would invoke Ben Gurion’≥ domestic problems or the Jewish holidays as reasons for delaying the visit.

By late March 1961 Ben Gurion realized that he could no longer postpone the visit. Myer Feldman and Abe Feinberg persuaded him that a meeting between him and Kennedy, in return for an American visit to Dimona, was necessary to avoid confrontation and save the Dimona project. Ben Gurion asked to set such visit to late May and approved the visit to Dimona against the objections of Foreign Minister Meir (who was, apparently, concerned about the implications of misleading the American scientists).

After Saddam, Iraqi women are used as sex objects

Violence against women has increased dramatically since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. They have been kidnapped, killed, raped, and even sold to foreign countries for the global prostitution network, the Woman Freedom Organization (WFO), a Baghdad-based NGO, said in a report earlier this month.

"We've studied reports from local NGOs on women's rights in the past three years, including violence, kidnappings, forced prostitution and honor killings," WFO President Senar Mohammad told Reuters. “Ånd the extent to which women have lost their rights in Iraq is shocking."

...The report also raised concerns about the conditions of women detainees currently held in prisons run by the U.S. and UK occupation forces, pointing to the Al-Kadhimiya and Abu-Ghraib prisons in particular. "Based on our records and from anonymous information, we estimate that there are more than 250 women in these two prisons alone, who are exposed to different kinds of torture, including sexual abuses,ӠMohammad said.

"I was kidnapped and sexually abused," said Surra Abdu, who spent two months in al-Kadhimiya prison. "But after I was released and reported the matter to the police, they interrogated me and hurt me more, saying I was in cahoots with my jailers." Abdu added: "Is that the freedom and security offered to us when Saddam was toppled?"

...The Iraqi Interior Ministry denies that women detainees were regularly subject to mistreatment. "We're Muslims, and we know very well how to treat our women prisoners," said top ministry official Ahmed Youssifin.

But the WFO rejects the government‘≥ assertions, insisting that it has abundant evidence of the abuse of women detainees. "It's very difficult to believe women are being well-treated in Iraqi prisons," he said. "Many times have I seen signs of torture and beatings on their faces after they were released."

Some of the photos that U.S. guards shot at Abu Ghraib show a U.S. military policeman "having sex with an Iraqi woman," according to Maj Gen Taguba, who headed a 2005 investigation into abuses of female detainees at the hands of U.S. guards. The Taguba report also stated that U.S. guards committed other crimes against Iraqi women for their entertainment. "An Iraqi woman in her 70s had been harnessed and ridden like a donkey at Abu Ghraib and another coalition detention center after being arrested last July," the report said.

Lawyers of women prisoners also assert that U.S. guards had been raping women detainees and forcing them to strip naked in front of men. They also said that these crimes were being committed all across Iraq. According to an Iraqi female lawyer, identified as Swadi, a woman prisoner at a U.S. military base in al-Kharkh told her that ҳhe had been rapedɠseveral American soldiers had raped her. She had tried to fight them off and they had hurt her arm.Ӡ

There is reason to believe that these abuses are still going on. When Swadi tried to visit women detainees at Abu Ghraib recently, U.S. guards refused to let her in. When she complained, they threatened to arrest her.

It is obvious that these abuses are horrible. What is so painful is that the oppression of Iraqi women won’¥ end soon. It will also have a devastating impact on the way of life of the Iraqi people -- thanks to the U.S./UK invasio.
-------------------
This is democracy? These women are mothers, grandmothers, daughters. They were women who had normal lives before the invasion of Iraq. What did we accomplish for them?

# 10 Factchecker I am with you I can not understand how timid the Democrats are on this NSA wiretapping accountability issue. I think Saladin's idea of skeletons in the closet explains some of the hesitation. Do you think our Senators are reading the polls? The american public wants someone to stand up to these criminals.

Feingold and Conyers (who called for censure some time ago) seem to be out there in the wilderness with this important issue.

The Killer and the Victim

Often if you know the killer
He (or she) will surely lead you to the victim.

Often if you know the bomber,
He (or she) will surely lead you to the bombed.

On the other hand, if you know the victim
You may more easily guess who was the killer.

In any classical-conflict,
The killer and victim are enemies
The bomber and the bombed are enemies

Which makes it easy to trace the perpetrators?
And the victims, as well.

In Iraq,
This theory is not always applicable.

Take the example of Tom Fox death
The victim helped Iraqis, the victim criticized the US
Let alone the fact that he didn’¥ caused harm to any Iraqi

Which makes the analysis and investigations more difficult, if not impossible.

Question..find one common thing between Margaret Hassan, Marla Ruzicka and Tom Fox?

So I must conclude that the killer in this case
Was not an Iraqi-Kurd,
Nor an Iraqi-Shi’°a ,
Nor an Iraqi-Sunni.
Which makes him (or her) a non-Iraqi-person...
consequently , a non-Iraqi-killer.

Let me think, for a while!! ...

If wasn't an Iraqi killer...
who else would be interested in killing people helping Iraqis and criticizing the US ?

Written by LadyBird-Part-time Sherlock Holmes
-------------------
I hear this suspicion more and more.

#34 Jeanne that piece you posted just reminds of what our invasion of Iraq has done to the Iraqi people. I know you can imagine what this must be doing to their children.
One has to wonder what was this the intention? To stay so that we can keep the regime change ball rolling or what?

Although tonight on Hardball the authors of Cobra II, Michael gordon and Bernard Trainor were on discussing their book. One of them said that it was originally Doug Feith and General Garners plan to incorporate Saddams police and guard immediately into the infrastructure of the what the U.s. military had in mind in Iraq. That Bremer had nixed the original plans.

How these murderers have bungled this invasion is beyond most of us...and it is the Iraqi people who have suffered from our sanctions and now this quagmire.

It makes you want to go radical....as radical as they are.

Iraq Edges Closer to Open Civil Warfare By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writers
7 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi authorities discovered at least 87 corpses —†men shot to death execution-style —†as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare. Twenty-nine of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave Tuesday in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

The bloodshed appeared to be retaliation for a bomb and mortar attack in the Sadr City slum that killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 200 two days earlier.

Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, meanwhile, told The Associated Press security officials had foiled a plot that would have put hundreds of al-Qaida men at critical guard posts around Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. and other foreign embassies, as well as the Iraqi government.

A senior Defense Ministry official said the 421 al-Qaida fighters were recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials have been jailed in the plot, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Police began unearthing bodies early Monday, although the discoveries were not immediately reported. The gruesome finds continued

US postwar Iraq strategy a mess, Blair was told

Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Tuesday March 14, 2006
The Guardian

Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.
John Sawers, Mr Blair's envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street in May and June 2003 cataloguing US failures. With unusual frankness, he described the US postwar administration, led by the retired general Jay Garner, as "an unbelievable mess" and said "Garner and his top team of 60-year-old retired generals" were "well-meaning but out of their depth".

Kathleen,
I can only imagine how many deaths have occured in Iraq as of today. The Lancet estimate was 100,000 last year wasn't it? What could it be now? Who deserved this hell? No one except those who created it.
Sweet dreams Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales. Sweet dreams Tommy Frank and Paul Bremmer. The bells toll for everyone. They will someday toll for you.

"Props" (photo)

Bush stopped at an airport near here [Rocheser NY] and greeted McElwain -- accompanied by his parents and coach -- and called him "a special person."

"Our country was captivated by an amazing story on the basketball court," the president told reporters gathered on the tarmac, his arm draped around the 17-year-old senior, with Air Force One, the presidential jet, in the background. "It's the story of a young man who found his touch on the basketball court, which in turn touched the hearts of citizens all around the country."

more (link)

Once a chearleader, always a chearleader.

Kathleen,

I'm wondering if Prof.Doxee ever talked about Kurt Vonegut?

-T

RE: Bush "Rallies"...

Everytime the illiterate idyut opens his mouth, his credibility (and poll #s) takes another hit.

Let us let him personally talk up Iraq in the same way he went out to talk up SS reform!

That said...

G'nite!

Will talk to my computer guys about this annoying spam. And if anyone wants to send money to support this blog, I won't stand in the way.

10's? 20's? non-sequential bills? How'daya like your contributions?

-T

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday, Senator Russ Feingold introduced a resolution to censure President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping American citizens.

Censuring a sitting president is serious business. But when the president misleads the public and Congress while willfully and repeatedly breaking the law, there must be consequences—that's how the law works for everybody else.

While most politicians sat back and weighed the political pros and cons of holding the president accountable, Senator Feingold stuck his neck out and did it. Now it's up to us to show broad public support. Can you sign our petition asking Congress to join the call for censure?

http://political.moveon.org/censure?id=7035-974345-DwTS314tItsOnTlXbKTPCQ&t=2

The fact that the democrats are avoiding Feingold's confrontational strategy shows how directionless they are.

Feingold's the kind of person who can break the 2-party mold. He should declare Independent and run for president.

Remeber when an american MSM reporter finally asked Bush how many Iraqi people have been killed due to the invasion? Bush answered "30,oo more or less". I was completely disgusted Which is it George you complete psychopathic killer you "more or less?"

March 14, 2006
COUNTERPUNCH
Why is the Left Understating the Carnage?
Counting the Dead in Iraq
By TODD CHRETIEN

Well over a year ago Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health released a report documenting 100,000 Iraqi dead as a consequence of the US invasion and occupation. At the time, they did not include the thousands of deaths in Falluja as part of their study because they did not want to skew the results upwards. Now, more than a year after the study, there are undoubtedly many thousands more Iraqi deaths. A recent article on CounterPunch by Andrew Cockburn argues that the real death figure may approach 500,000.

It is obvious why the Department of Defense refuses to keep count, they do not want to provide evidence for future war crimes tribunals. The US anti-war movement has rightly condemned the DoD for its disgraceful policy and has widely publicized the massacre of civilians carried out by the US military.

At the same time, the DoD has undercounted the number of American casualties by not adding soldiers whose wounds are inflicted in Iraq, but who die of their injuries later on German or American soil. As is also widely known, the Bush Administration has refused to allow the media to photograph coffins being unloaded at American airports, and the corporate media has largely played along with the administration's strictures against showing the real carnage in Iraq. Thus, the American public is being presented with a whitewashed version of the war.

The anti-war movement has been united in condemning this practice. However, there are some in the anti-war movement who seem reluctant to publicize all the dead in Iraq. This week, United for Peace and Justice put a "legislative alert" on their website's front page, written up by its legislative working group, which lists the following casualty figures in Iraq:

* over 28,000 Iraqi civilian lives (and some estimates are as high as 100,000 lives)

* over 2,300 U.S. military lives

* over 4,000 Iraqi police and military deaths

* over 16,500 U.S. troops wounded in combat

* $251 billion spent to date

* $1.3 trillion estimated long-term bill

UFPJ's legislative working group's figures raise a couple of questions. First, the 28,000 total for Iraqi civilian casualties is a full 5,000 short of what www.Iraqbodycount.org lists as the absolute minimum number of deaths. So where does UFPJ get its 28,000 figure for civilian deaths and why is that figure prioritized over the Johns Hopkins study (which was conducted as a national survey, based on a scientific sampling of households all over Iraq), which is presented as only an "estimate?"

Secondly, certainly it is proper to count the number of Iraqi police and military deaths in order to get an idea of the price being paid by these Iraqis for the American strategy of "handing over security operations," otherwise known as creating a puppet army. The stated US strategy is to push poorly trained and ill equipped Iraqis, who are desperate for a paycheck, into the front lines against the resistance. The poverty draft is alive and well in Iraq.

However, one group is suspiciously absent from the legislative working group's figures, namely, the number of Iraqi resistance fighters killed by the American military and the puppet Iraqi army. Certainly one does not have to agree with the military tactics pursued by every resistance group in Iraq in order to believe that their dead have as much right to be counted as those American soldiers who are used as cannon fodder for an illegal and unjust occupation.

So, why doesn't the legislative working group list the thousands (or tens of thousands) of resistance fighters killed? They might argue that there are no reliable
MORE AT COUNTERPUNCH.

I know no one here in the Corn world is surprised to hear there was not one mention of the illegal and immoral Israeli raid on the Palestinian prison. NOt one. Can you just imagine if the Palestinians had pulled something this illegal and outrageous off. It would be all over the MSM.

# 40 Hajji Professor Doxsee loves phone calls, e-mails and questions. His information is on the web. Gifford Doxsee. I am sure he would answer your questions about Kurt vonnegut, I think that I have heard him say that they talk.

Later...

"Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night"

Las Vegas hockey team give-away to spoof Cheney's shooting mishap

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A minor league hockey team is spoofing Vice President Dick Cheney's recent hunting mishap with a plan to distribute bright orange hunting vests printed with the words, "Don't Shoot, I'm Human."

The Las Vegas Wranglers plan to distribute 1,000 vests to fans arriving for Friday's game as part of a promotion dubbed "Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night" at the Orleans Arena.

"It was sort of too juicy not to do," said Billy Johnson, Wranglers president and chief operating officer. "It's one of those events in pop culture."

He referred to Cheney accidentally wounding a hunting partner while quail hunting Feb. 11 on a Texas ranch.

Cheney's office in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.

The Wranglers, of the East Coast Hockey League, are scheduled to play the Alaska Aces on Friday. The 7,000-seat arena is at the Orleans hotel-casino.

David, there is nothing that bush can say that would have a positive impact on Americans' opinion regarding bush's mismanagement of his War of Choice in Iraq. Karl Rove knows that bush's legacy hinges on Iraq, and by extension, Rove knows that his legacy hinges on the outcome in Iraq.

Rove "invented" bush. Rove is stymied now because he doesn't generate the desired results when he trots bush out. bush yammers "we will stay the course" even when military experts say we are fighting a war that cannot be won. It's nuts. But, it is ALL that Rove has -- he can't re-invent bush.

Since he can't re-invent bush, they'll have to invent a reason for another war.

This is what the Bush Administration is all about. From now on when you think of this presidency think of The Abu Ghraib files

279 photographs and 19 videos from the Army's internal investigation record a harrowing three months of detainee abuse inside the notorious prison -- and make clear that many of those responsible have yet to be held accountable.

Murtha's stirring the pot in support of Russ. Iraq talking points demolished.

They're cutting back on the testing for Mad Cow and they rejected tons of loans for Katrina rebuilding. Does the Bush Administration sit around and dream up ways to make Americans more miserable? And they wonder why their poll numbers are in the crapper.

Esoteric political analysis. Game theory to explain why the Dems just don't get it.

Sorry guys. Lionize Rove all you want. They do the same shit every day. They try to turn the Dems' words against them, they try to "frame the message" as you say.

Bottom line: Bush's approval ratings are in the shithole, Dems have higher generic ratings in dealing with Iraq and are pulling even on fighting terrorism, and Americans are rooting for Dems in the midterms. If Rove was such a genius, none of those trendlines would exist today.

He's a wannabe evil genius; but Mayberry Machiavelian is closer to the truth. He's a fat Opie, with bad hair, and no college education. That to me is the walking definition of "Moron."

What was I saying?

What Kind of Hater Are You?

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006; A19

Consider the portraits that Republicans and Democrats paint of each other. They explain much of the loathing in our politics.

Democrats see Republicans as a collection of pampered rich people who selfishly seek to cut their own taxes, allied with religious fundamentalists who want to use government power to impose a narrow brand of Christianity on everyone else.

Republicans see Democrats as godless, overeducated elitists who sip lattes as they look down their noses at the moral values of "real Americans" in "the heartland" and ally themselves with "special interest groups" that benefit from "big government."

more (link)

This was part of Pande's #50...

The study included 40 marijuana users ages 17 to 49 who were in a drug abuse treatment program;

Well, there ya go with why that study of just pot is flawed. Ever heard of anybody being in a drug abuse program for just using pot? Do a study of just pot smokers, not ones that were also doing many other hard drugs too. That would be a true test.

Vanity Fair's Judy Miller Rehab: Blame the Bloggers

There are three fundamental problems with Marie Brenner's 15-page piece on Plamegate and Judy Miller in the April Vanity Fair (hitting newsstands tomorrow):
=================
I liked this part...the article is both extremely basic -- Plamegate 101, seemingly written for folks who haven't picked up a newspaper or turned on a computer in the last couple of years

Seen this in a post. Subject was a national strike day... concern was if people would actually do it, and how to get their attention. Then this...

Just watched this on BBC Morning News - people are furious about being misled by the government about the security of their pensions, and 85,000 people close to retirement have lost their pensions when the companies folded. A line of about 30 men in their 50's (and older) just walked up to the steps of a city hall wearing absolutely nothing except a big banner reading 'STRIPPED OF OUR PENSIONS!'

I too am working hard on another book which will do for 1968 what my present novel did for James Joyce...hopefully T Cooper doesn't read THIS column since he has a penchance for Dean Koontzing me...LOL

#54
And it's cold in England right now. I call that courage.

Pandemoniac,
I've never been able to take Rove seriously. He's a toad. He smears people in the worst way. He attacks the most honorable things a person has done. He find fault in the greatest achievements. If people dissected what that freak is really doing they would know how to counter it. That's what Murtha did. He went for the jugular and they stopped the attack against him. That's all you have to do with bullies. Be meaner than them.

If the current Congress had been called on to intervene in the case of Mr. Allen, it would probably have tried to legalize shoplifting.

A Stumble a Day ... (link)

Bush Explains Medicare Drug Bill -- Verbatim Quote

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: "I don't really understand. How is the new plan going to fix the problem?"

Verbatim response: PRESIDENT BUSH:

"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, supposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red."

No truth, no consequences

...As has been chronicled ad infinitum, Dubya's life has been incredibly deficient in the corrective and formative effects of negative consequences. His presidency has been a microcosm of that fact, and its sequelae.

Journalism professor Mark Danner has written of our current state of frozen scandal --

"so-called scandals, that is, in which we have revelation but not a true investigation or punishment: scandals we are forced to live with. A story is told the first time but hardly acknowledged - largely because the broader story the government is telling drowns it out. When the story is later confirmed by official documents, (such as) the Downing Street memorandum, the documents are largely dismissed because they contain 'nothing new.'"
In a recent interview, he explained:

"Before, you had, as Step 1, revelation of wrongdoing by the press, usually with the help of leaks from within an administration. Step 2 would be an investigation which the courts, often allied with Congress, would conduct, usually in public, that would give you an official version of events. We saw this with Watergate, Iran-Contra and others. And finally, Step 3 would be expiation -- the courts, Congress, impose punishment which allows society to return to some kind of state of grace in which the notion is, Look, we've corrected the wrongdoing, we can now go on. With this administration, we've got revelation of torture, of illegal eavesdropping, of domestic spying, of all kinds of abuses when it comes to arrest of domestic aliens, of inflated and false weapons of mass destruction claims before the war; of cronyism and corruption in Iraq on a vast scale. You could go on. But no official investigation follows."
This disconnect has been true of the litany of Bush scandals, but such isolation from consequences has been the hallmark of George Bush's life. From his avoidance of the draft, to his escape from the obligations that he accepted as the price of that avoidance, to his knock-free string of business failures at ever-higher levels, George W. Bush has simply never had to suffer for, or even admit, any of his mistakes. And without consequences, truth is also scarce. Think about it: if you never, at any point in your upbringing, had to pay a price for lying, how strong would your commitment to the truth be?

I don't think Bush's easy, habitual prevarication makes him a compulsive liar. I suspect it is simply the product of an immature mind unconcerned with the difference between truth and fiction. He approaches communication much like your average five-year-old –†right and wrong have no meaning beyond what he wants or seeks to avoid in the moment.

Presidents seem to embody the tenor of their time –†the optimism of Kennedy's Camelot, the diminution of Jimmy Carter's cardigan, the blind indifference of Reagan's shining city on a hill. Whether they reflected their circumstances, or created them, I cannot say. Did George Bush's sense of personal immunity break the larger system, or did he become president because the system has deteriorated to the point that it no longer punishes transgressors? I think Bill Clinton's odyssey allows us to dismiss the latter. In fact, one could argue that if Bush's frozen scandals are the omega of accountability, the Clinton saga –†his slow, endless turning on a Republican spit over Whitewater, followed by impeachment for lying about a blowjob –†is the alpha. Bill Clinton was held accountable out of all proportion to his crimes; Bush floats effortlessly past a litany of epic failure after heinous transgression. And so America has become a nation characterized by its President's profound character disorder, in which the difference between truth and fiction is without consequence.

------------
Why are we made to tolarate this child?

Pan, even rove can't cover up the colossal f**k- ups of bushco forever! The fact that bush is still over 30% is a miracle in itself. Hitler would have a hard time doing worse than bush. If the dems had some spine and had stood up against this monstrosity beginning with the decision to sign a blank check allowing bush to pursue this illegal war, and had stuck together against every move he has made in defiance of all morals and ethics, they would be in a great position today. I know they aren't in charge, but that is no excuse for bending over time and time again.

Defecit at record level ...who cares ###
Goldman Sachs profits up 62% that's a story that got legs.......

#58
Unbelievable. When are people going to stop respecting Bush just because he holds the office of President. He doesn't deserve any respect. The guy can't even explain what he's shoving down the throats of the citizens of the US.

#61
I think your grandchildren probably care. That's the corporate world for you. They only think about the next quarter, nothing beyond that.

does anyone know anything about the Quran(koran)?
I have a catholic acquaintance, and he spends an inordinate amount of time informing others that the koran tells muslims that infidels like us should either be converted to islam or put to death. can anyone verify or debunk this?

#64
We need to have religious history taught in high school so kids learn, not only to respect other cultures but also how to spell the different terms. I have been spelling the name Quran wrong forever.

Taking the morning off to play in a Co. golf tourney. Today I can drink, swear, make fun of the Preznit AND humiliate my boss without fear of reprisal. We'll see how the knees hold out. Yes, Alan, I am getting Oooold.

There are lots of reasons that Mexicans shouldn't get involved in Politics. One of them is that arguments tend to get personal real quick and escalate to the point of lunacy. Another is the tendency to fight over the most trivial things (like tater tots).

In my most recent GOTV participation (which is why I stopped posting here) on the Southside of San Antonio, I rediscovered a few things that I'd forgotten.

1 - Southside dogs are the meanest critters on the planet. Seems like everyone had a pitbull or rotweiller. Luckily for me, my genetic dog-whisperer skillz remain intact.

2 - Southsiders hate anyone with the last name "Bush." That goes for Jen, Bar the Elder, Bar the Younger, Chimpy and Pappy.

3 - The only Bush supporters that I ran across were in their 20s, lived with their parents, had no job, uneducated (ring a bell? baf. LBH. etc.)

4 - The old-timers HATE the new Prescription Drug plan. Most of them don't use it. Those that have, complain that they can't get the same meds that they used to. One old guy showed me a culvert near a local elemenatry school where he lived before he was diagnosed and medicated for some mental disorder. He said he lived in fear of being relegated to the culvert again by loss of meds. I don't have the words to explain the level of dissatisfaction that these guys felt. Besides, most of them just cussed a lot in Spanish; and I still don't know how to translate "pinche" or "chingado" to my satisfaction.

4.1 - Most of the kids I walked with didn't speak spanish. They just stood there and smiled and listened. I have to start teaching my kids more spanish.

5 - Negative adds are the bombdiggity. That's all that most folks remember. They love the smash mouth politics.

6 - Big money doesn't always win elections. One of the local sybarites, James Leininger, spent millions backing Texas candidates and only won something like 2 out of 7 races that he backed. This is (BTW, Happy) the precise influence that people like Markos at DailyKos tries to fight by endorsing underdogs like Uresti and Ciro. That crap you copied and pasted from the InstaPendejos doesn't mention all of the big name candidates like Corzine, Salazar, Menendez and Harris' opponent in Florida that Kos also backs. Keep telling yourself, Happy, that the Dems are underdogs. Keep praying that the fighting Dems don't get elected because with loudmouth former-republicans (like Massa and Marcinkowski) running as Dems things will get ugly in November.

7 - I don't feel comfortable around rich Democrats. I got lots of offers for Spurs tickets (not like the ones on this blog) and un-used rainchecks from local golf courses (including the Palmer Course at La Cantera, which is right around the corner from where I live) for helping out. I got to watch the Lakers beat the Spurs and I got treated to valet service at the Palmer course. Neither was enjoyable. I did like the GPS-backed maps on the carts. The beer ladies with the fakies gave me the creeps, tho.

I understand now why Politics was the only addictive habit that Hunter could never break. And so much weird shit happens that it's easy to come up with fodder for a scary book. If I had more time, I would write one myself. The Madla-Uresti race was a trip unto itself. I had so much fun; I can't wait till November.

Sal, I know that a real opposition party would doom the Reds. Rove is another matter. He is only effective if he is able to peddle his shit to the press. Lying and rumormongering are his only skillz. As I mentioned, he's an uneducated idiot.

Right now, with Fitzgerald (and the NSA) snooping in on Karl the Klown, there isn't a single journo that's willing to traffic in his bullshit. He's toxic to them. As a result, he has been rendered innocuous (like Feingold).

Time to hit the road

What do folks think about the coverage of the illegal Israeli raid on the Palestinian prison?
Not one thing said about it on Hardball or Olbermans program. Nothing on Diane Rehms, Talk of the nation in the next couple of days. I will check C span.

I know many think I should just give up on the MSM, but I refuse. I will continue to hammer demanding that they do their jobs and cover issues in an accurate and well balanced way.

WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THE COVERAGE(LACK OF) IN THE U.S. OF THIS MOST RECENT ILLEGAL ISRAELI RAID?

WE KNOW THAT IF THE PALESTINIANS HAD PULLED SUCH AN ILLEGAL ACT..THE MSM WOULD BE REPEATING IT OVER AND OVER. LET THE MSM KNOW YOU ARE WITNESSING THIS SERIOUS ABSENCE OF COVERAGE.

James, I suspect that, like the Christian bible, there are probably many verses that can be tweaked and twisted to mean whatever someone wants them to mean. A perfect example is the idea of hell. Christians have been taught for centuries that it is a literal place of eternal torment for sinners, but a bit of research proves that it contains no such concept. I bet if you want to find scriptures telling followers to kill infidels, you could, even though it is my understanding that killing innocents of any religion is strictly forbidden in the Koran.

#66
I love the dog whisperer show. I love it. psst. Wow, wouldn't you love to control the world just by saying psst. I wish we could send that guy to the White House to do some training.

I keep telling Public television to buy it. It's a great kids show.

Koran, Qur'an

Main Entry: Ko∑ran
Pronunciation: k&-'ran, -'r‰n; 'kOr-"an, 'kor-
Function: noun
Etymology: Arabic qur'An
: the book composed of sacred writings accepted by Muslims as revelations made to Muhammad by Allah through the angel Gabriel

------------
Qur'an

Variant(s): also Qur∑an /k&-'ran, -'r‰n; ku-'ran, -'r‰n/
variant of KORAN

Kathleen, you must know that any negative coverage of Israel is a death sentence for the career of that journalist. Do you really expect the MSM to say one thing about any of the atrocities Israel is guilty of? Did you know that some bloggers are receiving death threats and other forms of harassment for bringing to light zionist tactics? I think the lack of news is par for the course, and will not change in my lifetime, absent some huge shift in American perception. When you can be arrested and thrown in jail for merely questioning the holocaust religion, you know someone has obtained a stranglehold that will not be loosed anytime soon.
Pan, I hope you didn't mean that people without college educations are morons. I never went to college and I may not be the brightest bulb in the pack, but neither am I a moron! rove gets away with his tactics, and has been for many years, because people are gullible and want to believe. He simply takes advantage of that fact.

Makes me wonder why religion exists at all. The study of people and their need for something to cling to has led me to believe there is no heaven, no hell, no angry god ready to smite you if you do not comply precisely to the text provided. There is instead a beautifull planet with endless wonders put there to make us realize we are already in heaven right here on earth. We have the opportunity to have children and share the earths goodness among each other. However there are those that would claim the earth for themselves to exploit as necessary to provide wealth, for themselves, disregarding others needs, only their own. Whether it be a religion, a country, a nation the infectious self absorbtion continues. Many of us can readily see the foibles attempted by those unwilling to treasure their very presence on the earth. To be able to see right where wrong exists is not a skill learned. We are born with wonder of the world around us, as children we explore, play and learn. Some use the knowledge to defeat others good intentions. Some learn to care on a deep level giving every part of their being to make this world a better place, a place to have their children experience the same wonder they did. Religion poisons people from reality, it forces them tho fit into a mysterious world not like the real world and places a burden on others to either comply or be forever smitten by god, not worthy of the most basic needs, to live and love undisturbed by notions and dogma.

Excerpted from:

Kill the Infidels, Surah 9:5

This article is about the oft-quoted, or rather misquoted, Surah 9:5 verse of the Quran, which is claimed to call upon "all" Muslims to kill "all" non-Muslims or the so-called "Infidels".

Muslims are often questioned, "Did not Muhammad call on all Muslims to kill the infidels?" The answer is absolutely not!

Then, we are asked another question: "Why then does the Quran say, "fight and slay the pagans (or infidels or unbelievers) wherever you find them?" (9:5).

[...]

THE QURAN:

(1) The Quran is not classified subject-wise. Verses on various topics appear in dispersed places in the Quran and no order can be ascertained from the sequence of its text. The first verses revealed in the Quran was in chapter (surah) 96.

(2) The structure of the Quran makes it necessary to approach it using the dialectic "both and" methodology of reasoning. This means that to investigate a certain issue, the verses pertaining to the issue should be gathered together. The verses are then analyzed comprehensively while paying attention to the historical context (in Islamic terminology called the "occasion of revelation") of each verse. The truth is considered to be found in all the relevant verses, because if the Quran is divine as the vast majority of Muslims believe, it should be free from real contradictions and inconsistencies. Apparent contradictions are not only reconciled and transcended but are thoroughly investigated because they actually reflect deep meanings and paradigms. (This is akin, for example, to the process of understanding the Chinese idiom, "a man is stronger than iron and weaker than a fly." Although the wise saying is superficially self-contradictory, it reveals a deep fact about humans who, in some situations, are very strong. Yet, in other contexts, these same people are very weak.) If the reductionist approach to the Quran is valid, then all ideas, from violence to absolute pacifism, can be justified and rationalized using the Quran. For the Quran does not only contain verses about war, it is also replete with verses about forgiveness and countering evil with good.

Much more, including the historical section.

*************************

This is, of course, only from one source. When considering the range of religious philosophy and discourse within each of the world's major religions, we are to be aware of this always.

Judaic thought can encompass Mier Kahane and Norman Finklestein. Pat Robertson and Daniel Berrigan both look to Jesus as inspiration. Hinayama or Mahayana; both accept Buddha, though the path towards and the meaning of enlightenment vary. (Is it a personal enlightenment, or is one to put off one's own Nirvana and become Bodhisatva and work towards the enlightenment of others?) The nation which won its independence through Ghandian non-violence now looks towards the nuclear weapon.

Religion holds within itself contradiction.

kill the infidel!

#64 James, contact Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik at The Institute of Islamic Knowledge, phone 281- 448-4080 for a free English language copy of the Qur'an.

To read Al-Qur'an online, go to:

al-quraan.org

or

jihad-bil-quraan.com

Democrats slash Feingold move on censure, as Feingold says party 'cowering'

John Byrne
Published: Tuesday March 14, 2006

While mainstream media outlets have pounced on the fact that Democrats blocked an effort by one of their own to censure President Bush over his warrantless wiretapping program, RAW STORY has found that Senate Democratic offices are fuming. The proposal to censure the President was introduced on a Sunday talk show by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI).

Though all say they believe the program warrants "more investigation," several Senate aides rebuked Feingold for proposing censure. They say that his move had the potential to derail Democratic efforts to strengthen the party's image on homeland security issues, noting that a large part of the country believes the eavesdropping program should continue. Bush has defended the program, calling it a "terrorist surveillance" program, and has used aides to defend its legality.

Strikingly, some of the criticism came from liberal Senate offices.

One longtime Senate aide was particularly scathing.

Feingold's grandstanding screwed the pooch and played into Bill Frist's hands," the aide said. "Thank God Dems punted this down the field. Frist was going to force Democrats to vote on a resolution Feingold had kept a big secret and he would've split the caucus on an issue that needed time to get the whole caucus to support. Russ Feingold had only one persons interests in mind with his Sunday bombshell, and those were his own. He practically handed a victory to a Bush White House that desperately needs a win.

There were concerns that this would backfire on the Democrats just as they were beginning to get the upper hand or at least beefing up the playing field on homeland security credentials, the aide added. The Dubai deal, the war in Iraq, the president's numbers heading south. Democrats have a long history of shooting themselves in the foot when the good things work and we've been known to do some things that end up hurting us rather than helping us.
Several aides said their offices were stressing more investigations as an alternative to censure. One aide said public hearings would be better in bringing Americans around to the idea that Bush had done something wrong.

Democrats had decided that public hearings were needed on the wiretapping to educate the public before considering a censure, one staffer quipped. Hearings would've forced Arlen Specter and Lindsay Graham to continue to criticize the Administration. Everyone knew that was the gameplan. Feingold just wanted to hog the spotlight. If he were interested in holding George Bush accountable he would've made his pitch in the Democratic caucus behind closed doors.
----------
They are the most pathetic creatures I have EVER encountered! MORE investigations? WTF for? This is the party people are counting on to save this country? LOL!!

James, the Hebrew scriptures contain just as many horrible commands as the link you gave. Guess pagans are in the eye of the beholder!

We can't hold the president accountable for breaking the law now, we've got to consolidate our gains first! Plus if we try, he'll make us look like traitors to the crown. (Did i say crown?) Traitors to the president! Did I say President? Traitors to the Country! Yes, that's it. Traitors of the American People.

I just wanted my idiot catholic acquaintance to shut up, but I guess technically he is correct - now I'm doing a search of the christian bible to see if they suggest something similar, but so far it remains morally upright and superior - ha.

#50 Hey, Pande, I sure as hell am not lionizing Rove! In fact, I know he fucks up everything he touches -- and I said so -- but the fact remains that the Repugs have been able to "frame" the message. They do stupid, dumbfuck things every single day, but the fact is, that at the end of the day, they are still on top.

Rove may not be a classic dictionary definition genius, but he is certainly wily -- he has mastered every trick in the book to deceive, trick, and outwit his opponents. Maybe that doesn't make him a genius, but it makes him "effective" for Machiavellian purposes.

James, any action, no matter how morally reprehensible, can be justified as upright when it's "your" god saying it is so. Ask any Catholic and they will confirm this.

It only took about a thousand years for the Pope to say it:

Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085), following St. Augustine, developed the concept of "penitential warfare," whereby warfare was justified when performed in the service and defense of the Church and the faith. He offered absolution to those who died fighting for the Cross in the reconquest (reconquista) of Spain.4

But it was Pope Urban II who formally invoked penitential warfare - warfare in the service and defense of the Church for the remission of sins, when he called for the First Crusade on November 27, 1095.

FROM: http://jesuschristsavior.net/Crusades.html
__________

this whole topic is pointless -

Censuring the president
By kos on Russ Feingold

The following Democratic senators have come out for censuring the president:

Daniel Akaka
Max Baucus
Byron Dorgan
Dick Durbin
Dianne Feinstein
Daniel Inouye
Jim Jeffords
Ted Kennedy
John Kerry
Herb Kohl
Mary Landrieu
Carl Levin
Joe Lieberman
Blanche Lincoln
Barbara Mikulski
Patty Murray
Jack Reed
Harry Reid
Jay Rockefeller
Chuck Schumer
Ron Wyden

Unfortunately, the president being censured was Bill Clinton, not George W. Bush. Because, you know, these senators had their priorities straight.

(link)

Sal, The whole bunch is cowering and bleeting, afraid of holding the administration criminals accountable for a clear violation of the United States Constitution. Feingold move was one of desperation to give the issue sunlight, instead he is made out to be the bad guy. I seen this happen over and over in daily life, where bringing up important issues and attempted resolution of problems results in being cordened off by the people in favor of a particular agenda, isolated. I am ashamed of our leaders and their inability to lead, preferring instead to be lead by idiots. I will not vote for one incumbant running for election in 06. The whole bunch stinks to high heaven, time to take out the trash.

Saladin I agree with you completely on this issue. But as I have said I will continue to bang my head against this brickwall. I just sent many articles on coverage of the raid from around the world to the Diane Rehm show,...asking them to do a program on the topic of the persistntly lop-sided and inaccurate coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I have had the Rehms producers take the hook of a challenge before. You never know.
Later..

Extra, Extra! Media Report on Feingold Censure Motion
It's Spring and Talk of Impeachment is in the Air
By DAVE LINDORFF

The crocuses are up and the forsythia is starting to flower in my yard--a sure sign of spring. And on the corporate media front, suddenly we're reading about Sen. Russ Feingold's censure resolution against President Bush --a clear sign that the freezeout on talk of impeachment is starting to thaw, too.

Recall that when Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) filed a similar censure motion in the House last December--two actually, one against Bush and one against Vice President Cheney--it was virtually blacked out by the media, including the New York Times and Washington Post. Now, belatedly, the Times is mentioning the still languishing Conyers censure resolution--and his companion bill calling for a select committee to investigate possible impeachable crimes--in the article on Feingold's censure motion.

It's all an indication that impeachment--mocked as a "left-wing fantasy" as recently as last fall--is becoming an increasingly mainstream notion.

And why not? After all, several polls over the last six months have disclosed that a majority of Americans favors impeachment to remove Bush from office on the basis of his serial assaults on the Constitution, most notably his lying to get the country into a war in Iraq, and his violation of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act.

There are, to be sure, major roadblocks ahead. The Republicans who control House and Senate are doing their best to tamp down the mounting administration scandals. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has blocked any effort to seriously investigate Bush's illegal National Security Agency wiretapping activities, with the help of not just Republicans, but also acquiescent Democrats on the panel.

If Roberts gets his way--which is by no means certain at this point--Bush's FISA crimes would be made retroactively legal, and allowed to go ahead into the future, essentially rendering the Constitution's Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure an artifact for study by bored highschool history students.

The latest censure motion by Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin, while seemingly quixotic given Republican control of the Senate, is actually a clever counterattack against Roberts' treasonous maneuver. It will put Americans on notice that an ongoing crime against the Constitution is being willfully committed by the president, and that the Republican leadership is aiding and abetting that crime. Even if Feingold's censure motion goes nowhere, it sets the stage for the public to respond in November to this betrayal of their birthright.

Remember, back in the early days of Watergate, Republicans in the Congress rallied solidly in an effort to block any move towards impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon. The media, too, initially backed the president. Gradually, as the extent of his crimes became more apparent, at least some Republicans abandoned Nixon. The media, too, came around, once weak-kneed editors determined that it was safe to take a stand.

Of course, the success of Feingold's maneuver depends upon the public's paying attention, and acting on its concerns about administration crimes this November. That's when voters must oust enough Republicans from the House and Senate to give impeachment a fighting chance. It should be mentioned here that Feingold--a progressive senator in the mold of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota--has a personal agenda: he wants to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008. Since he's not in the media-anointed "front-runner" pool that includes such tired Democratic Leadership Council hacks and Clinton clones as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York), Bill Richardson (governor of New Mexico) and former vice president Al Gore, and since his positions on major issues, from opposing the Iraq War and the Patriot Act to opposing NAFTA, challenge the two-party consensus of what is "acceptable debate," Feingold needs something that will make him stand out, and that will grab headlines. This is exactly what Howard Dean did when, as a no-count governor from Vermont, he started opposing the Iraq War in 2004. For Feingold, it's impeachment.

Well, all to the good. He deserves to stand out. Feingold is saying what a majority of Americans are thinking: this president must not be allowed to continue thumbing his nose at the Constitution.

Sen. Feingold's censure motion is one more step on the road to an impeachment motion in the House.

Dave Lindorff is the author

#58 Oy! bush gives me a headache!

About the prescription drug debacle: Yesterday, he said, "Any time Washington passes a new law, sometimes the transition period can be interesting."

Kathleen, Linking is easy. Please try it. Thank you, fellow cornblogger. O'Reilly

DEN, the skeletons in the dem closet must be as rotten as can be. The fact that any one of them could start an official investigation into 9/11, but instead ignore the issue altogether, tells me a lot. They won't touch it because they know who butters their bread. I would bet money that most, if not all of them, know the truth but can't speak out for fear of reprisals. They will look out for number one, they always have and always will.

It's Spring and Talk of Impeachment is in the Air
by Dave Lindorff Monday, Mar. 13, 2006 at 6:32 AM

Extra! Extra! Senator introduces censure motion against President Bush and the media actually report it the next day!

The crocuses are up and the forsythia is starting to flower in my yard--a sure sign of spring. And on the corporate media front, suddenly we?re reading about Sen. Russ Feingold?s censure resolution against President Bush --a clear sign that the freezeout on talk of impeachment is starting to thaw, too.

(link)

capt. was kind enough to find the christian/muslim 'killing of infidels/unbelievers' info. for me - it took him all of 10 minutes or so -
*saluting!* capt. is the undisputed master of internet research IMO.

saladin 88~
I think the same can be said about the media

You know it James!

Garrison Keillor: 'Day of reckoning for the Current Occupant'

[...]

The Republican Revolution has gone the way of all flesh. It took over Congress and the White House, horns blew, church bells rang, sailors kissed each other, and what happened? The Republicans led us into a reckless foreign war and steered the economy toward receivership and wielded power as if there were no rules. Democrats are accused of having no new ideas, but Republicans are making some of the old ideas look awfully good, such as constitutional checks and balances, fiscal responsibility, and the notion of realism in foreign affairs and taking actions that serve the national interest. What one might call "conservatism."

The head of the National Security Agency under President Ronald Reagan, Lt. Gen. William Odom, writes on the Web site NiemanWatchdog.org that he sees clear parallels between Vietnam and Iraq: "The difference lies in the consequences. Vietnam did not have the devastating effects on U.S. power that Iraq is already having." He draws the parallels in three stages and says that staying the course will only make the damage to U.S. power greater. It's a chilling analysis, and one that isn't going to come from the Democratic Party. It's starting to come from Republicans, and they are the ones who must rescue the country from themselves.

****************************

Let us only hope...

Sal, We as a nation are doomed to extinction if we dont right the wrongs that brought us here. History gives us guidance to make things right, greed and fear take it away.

"Recipe for Disaster"

From Karl's Kitchen"

In a large "white" crock pot:

Combine 1 pound of all purpose fear, a pinch of 9/11 and dollop of fake homeland security.

Combine tax cuts for the wealthy, exclusive
Halliburton contracts, oil profits and corporate
welfare til smooth, then add to the mix.

Coarsely chop off social programs for the poor, strain Social Security through private cheese cloth and then drain and discard unnecessary excess minorities.

In a separate pot, bring bigotry, gay bashing and
pro-birth rhetoric to a boil. Stir in right-wing
religious zealots and the elimination of the
Separation of Church and State. Bring to boil again and then generously pour into the mix.

Stir in secrecy, fraud, corruption and criminal
negligence. If desired, mash fixed intelligence with a treason masher and sprinkle with super secret background and wiretapping without a warrant.

Add Swift-Boat smear tactics to taste and sprinkle with language manipulation (from Frank Luntz's secret recipe). Garnish with sprigs of public apathy and complacency.

Put a lid on it and go on vacation.

Danger: Do not lift cover. It may explode in your face.

DEN, I think at this point all we can do is strap in and try to ride out the storm. Change is inevitable, for the better or worse I'm not sure of yet. But it's bound to get worse before it gets better. People have the stubborn habit of insisting on learning lessons the hard way.

From #66, the (?Older, Less Mean?) Blade

6 - Big money doesn't always win elections..This is (BTW, Happy) the precise influence that people like Markos at DailyKos tries to fight by endorsing underdogs like Uresti and Ciro. That crap you copied..doesn't mention all of the big name candidates like Corzine, Salazar, Menendez and Harris' opponent in Florida that Kos also backs. Keep telling yourself, Happy, that the Dems are underdogs....
================================================
Since David hasn't followed thru on `this space' yet and I gotta run to close out a real estate deal, #66 has something worthy of rebutting.

Just keying in on your own words "underdogs" and "big name candidates", take a moment to think about it and I think you are smart enough to get my rebuttals on candidate-backing!

As for my thinking the Dems are the underdogs, WRONG! The Dems, being much more populists (=poll fanatics), have never been the underdogs; at least fo far in my lifetime. The Dems, however, don't have the finess & macro-outlooks that people consider when they step into the voting booth every 2 or 4 years. Small example that I agree w/you on is Feingold.

Spike's Pique

Denzel-Jodie Heist Movie or Not, Lee Still Has His Conscience: Auteur Views Katrina Conspiracy Through Glasses, Very Darkly; As for Condoleezza: "I Don't Think We Can Vote for Her?"

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, Spike Lee sat behind a desk piled high with the daily papers in a Regency Hotel suite, dressed in a black blazer embossed with a white Yankees emblem, black pants and round thick-rimmed tortoiseshell glasses. He was there to talk about his new thriller, the Clive Owen/Denzel Washington bank-heist flick Inside Man.

Instead, he was talking about When the Levees Broke, his forthcoming documentary about Hurricane Katrina, and Condoleezza Rice. He was cracking up, giggling and cackling?in fact, caggling.

Mr. Lee recalled the story of a shopper who approached Ms. Rice at the pricey Ferragamo shoe store on Fifth Avenue during Katrina and reportedly shouted ?How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!? before Secret Service physically removed her.

Mr. Lee picked up The Observer?s tape recorder and held it close in front of his face. ?To the lady that got in Ms. Rice?s face in the store before you got pulled off by Secret Service,? he said. ?If you read this article, please contact The New York Observer because we?re trying to find you for the documentary we?re doing on Hurricane Katrina.? Caggle, caggle. ?IF you are still alive, that is.

(link)

#71
Sal,
You are self educated which is the best education there is. There aren't many people with your determination to get to the facts.

In fact, I have sometimes pictured you in front of the Senate, slamming the text of a bill onto the table and quietly asking, "Has anyone read this bill? If not, why are you passing it?"

the prosecutor in the moussaoui(20th highjacker~ha) sentencing trial acted improperly with her emails to 6 witnesses, all of them FAA workers. now they are unable to testify. I think that all aviation testimony is out. how very convenient for the 911fairytale/cover-up!

i∑ro∑ny I.E. to mispell finesse.

Jeanne, I would dearly love to do something like that, however I doubt that I could endure the stench of DC! I have found that there are two different kinds of intelligence, one is gained wisdom through experience and the other is intellectual IQ gained from formal education. The two don't necessarily go together! The wisdom IQ can be sorely lacking in a well educated person, I have met many people who are intellectually brilliant but have very little common sense!

Those witnesses were to be presented by the gov't to prove that the defendant?s dishonest answers during pre 9/11 questioning specifically led to the deaths of the passengers of at least one plane.

The 'James Ha' in me wondered if a life-imprisonment sentence, rather than the death sentence, would serve the pro-torture crowds purposes for the necessity of that immoral practice.

In other words, why kill him, when you could use him to gain popular support for torture?

I have no evidence for this theory. Does that make me a traitor?

EXPLAIN TO ME AGAIN WHY WE SHOULD TRUST THE GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL AND BUSH IN PARTICULAR TO SPY ON US CITIZENS WITHOUT A COURT-ISSUED WARRANT SUPPORTED BY PROBABLE CAUSE...

FBI Monitored Iraq War Protesters...
By The Huffington Post on Iraq

An FBI agent in Pittsburgh photographed members of an antiwar activist group in 2002, according to documents released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the disclosure marks the latest incident in which the FBI has monitored left-leaning groups.

An FBI report from November 2002 indicates that an agent photographed members of the Thomas Merton Center as they handed out leaflets opposing the impending war in Iraq. The report called the group a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."

(link)

One thing I noticed about Rove and Cheney. They hide. Why don't they go on the road with their great policies? Why not sit in the center of a full union hall? Why not debate some elderly ladies on the prescription drug bill? All I see this administration do is hide in the company of suits so they can blend in and feel that their plans are accepted. They are such wimps. They only have power because Congress gave it to them. The American people are not behind them and if the Democrats don't figure it out soon they'll be out too. And they deserve to be. They're not defending this country from tyranny.

EVERYBODY PLEASE HELP BOB

Bush reminds us that we did a great thing...we removed a horrible dictator in Iraq. So.....

I am trying to find one...one...one example of a speech by a politician in Iraq, over the past year or so, that expressed even a sentence of gratitude to the USA for removing Saddam.

I cannot detect a single nanogram of gratitude on the part of the Iraqi people to the USA, in Iraq, or elsewhere. Think of all of the ex-patriate Iraqis in the USA....Do thankful ex-patriate Kurds greet National Guard troops when they come back to America, and thank them for what they have done? Do thankful ex-patriate Shia send sympathy cards to the families of killed soldiers in their communities? I have never heard of this happening...even once.

This is something that has always bothered me....I cannot